Stuart Easton storms to dominant victory on return to Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix

Stuart Easton came back to the Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix on Saturday after a four-year absence and made it look like he’d never been away, storming to victory from start to finish in a dominant display for his fourth win.

The Scot, who won in consecutive years from 2008-10, was a class apart, leaving his rivals to scrap for the podium places; after an epic battle, eight-time Macau winner Michael Rutter finished second and Martin Jessopp was third.

“It didn’t feel that easy, certainly not early on, but for once my plan worked, plans in bike racing never seem to work,” said PBM by Venetian Macau rider Easton, who holds the lap record here.

“Mine was to get away in front, I normally get a good start, try to set a pace where I felt fast enough but still comfortable, and if anybody challenges me, we’ll have a race - thankfully the gaps just kept going up.”

Behind Easton, an enthralling scrap was going on for the podium finishes, the lead changing hands multiple times before Rutter’s experience here perhaps proved the difference.

“Unfortunately, I’d like it to be a boring race, but we put on a good show, it was good fun, a good battle, but Stuart was way beyond - fair play to him he made us look a bit silly,” said Jessopp.

Rutter, on his 20th visit, almost came a cropper as he tried to stay in touch with the blistering pace set by Easton.

“I had a real bad start, got my head down and thought ‘I’ve got to get on the back of him straight away’, but I hit the wall and thought, ‘okay, you’re going too fast’,” said Rutter.

“I thought I’d settle for second and if I kept it smooth I’d be fine – but it was far from smooth.”